Tuesday, January 29, 2008

CLOVERFIELD...

is a fan-freaking-tastic movie!

Starting my review at the end, I spent twenty minutes or more after the movie just thinking about it in general amazement.

It was definitely a movie to see on the big screen. Firstly, although the camera shake wasn't as bad as in the Blair Witch Project, it was significant. Secondly, it is a big budget film with a lot happening on-screen despite the conceit of it being filmed on a little hand-held camera.

That said, I can imagine people renting or buying it to go frame-by-frame to see some of the action.

You do see the monster and a lot of it. I would have liked to see more but then I would like to see more of the squirrels and birds my son and I watch while outside. You see plenty.

The monster is not the most terrifying part. I will leave it a secret here, although I had read about it on other sites and it still worked on me.

I said the camera shake wasn't that bad; still, the idea didn't work as well as it did in the Blair Witch Project -a group of camera enthusiasts who would naturally reach for a camera when under stress. Here, the camera man is simply the one stuck with the job rather than being eager to do it. His motivation is not clear. In both cases, the camera being used for its light or other features did work.

I saw the movie with a coworker and his wife and we originally thought the excitement of the drive from Gangneung to Sokcho would overwhelm that of the movie (the weather is somewhere between bad and terrible) but Cloverfield scared me more than a bus fish-tailing in front of us.

Let me finish by bragging that little Sokcho has a better theatre than Gangneung. Ha-ha, Gangneungites!